Mercedes Reverts to Older Floor for Belgian GP: George Russell Explains the Decision

Mercedes have decided not to use their new Formula 1 floor design for the Belgian Grand Prix. George Russell provides insights into the team's decision to revert to their previous floor at the Spa circuit.

George Russell has explained the reason behind Mercedes' decision to switch back to a previous version of their car's floor for the rest of the Belgian Grand Prix F1 weekend.

Russell managed to qualify in seventh place at Spa-Francorchamps, finishing three positions behind his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton.

Nevertheless, Mercedes showed better performance compared to their practice session on Friday.

Mercedes experimented with a new floor but decided not to use it during Friday's practice session.

Due to the rainy conditions and their subpar performance on Friday, Mercedes opted to make this choice.

After the qualifying session, Russell provided more details about the decision.

"We simply wanted to verify," he stated. "We tested the new floor on Friday and then returned to the race on Sunday to observe the outcomes. In Formula 1, the variation in speed from one track to another is significant."

"Yesterday didn't go well for us, and we want to make sure the issues weren't caused by the upgrades. I'm fairly certain they weren't."

"In the past year, we've generally had success with our upgrades, as they have mostly been effective. This will allow us additional time to evaluate the new floor."

It was anticipated that Mercedes would perform strongly at Spa, given that they had been the quickest team at Silverstone, a track with comparable features.

Nonetheless, Russell admitted that Mercedes must figure out the reasons behind their ongoing difficulties at Spa, noting their underwhelming performance in both 2022 and 2023.

“We've been consistently fast at Silverstone for the past three years,” he mentioned. “This year, in particular, we've been remarkably quick, but we had difficulties at Spa. Although the two circuits are not identical, they both feature high-speed sections and some low-speed parts like Silverstone. We need to figure out why there's a difference in our performance.”

“There appears to be a natural affinity between certain cars and specific tracks. For example, Red Bull consistently performs exceptionally well.”

"This track, along with Austria, is usually one of their best in the season. For our team, circuits like Silverstone and Barcelona are where we typically perform really well. So, it's important for us to grasp that."

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